UNCERTAINTY over public opinion has left community leaders in Peebles planning a poll on windfarms.

A total of 32 turbines will be erected in the countryside west of Eddleston if all the proposals get the go ahead. They will add to the existing 24 nearby on the east side of the A702 at Bowbeat.

Members of Peebles Community Council are still unsure what the consenus is on the energy-saving structures.

A public examination of the Cloich Forest application - for 18 turbines - is being held in the Peebles Hydro on May 26.

And the community council is hoping to provide the inquiry with more detailed information on the views of Peebles residents.

“A poll is not straightforward as the questions need to be put in the right way,” said community council planning chairman Crick Carleton.

“But it proposed that a poll is organised on the Peebles Community Facebook page and in the Peeblesshire News.

“Peebles and the community council is very supportive of sustainable development and a raised role for the generation and use of renewable energy, and there are those who are strongly supportive of such developments and others who are strongly opposed.

“This is evident in the range of responses from Peebles so far - but from a limited sample size.

“Siting 18 wind turbines on the top of the broad forested hill to the west of Eddleston, lying just outside the northern boundary of the Peebles Community Council, means that those turbines will be visible from many parts of the north western Borders, including from parts of Peebles.

“Does such visibility outweigh the benefits deriving from the capture of wind energy?

“The main bases of objection to the development are on the grounds of impact on the landscape and its visual impact.